HELLENIC REPUBLIC
HOLY METROPOLIS OF KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA
Postal Code: 801 00 KYTHIRA
Tel.: 2736031202 & 2736038359
Fax: 2736031202 

Kythira, 9 April 2025

Prot. No.: 95

To the Most Reverend Protopresbyter
Fr. Matthew Vulcănescu
Liverpool, United Kingdom

Most Reverend and beloved in Christ, Father Matthew,

May You have a blessed, peaceful, and Grace-filled HOLY PASCHA!

We have received Your letter dated 4 April 2025, in which You express, with profound sorrow and deep spiritual unease, Your concern regarding the dogmatic issues involving the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch, to which You belong spiritually and administratively. These issues (such as the participation in the “World Council of Churches”, the failure to condemn heresies contained in the texts of the pseudo-synod of Crete of 2016, the agreements of Chambesy (1989, 1990, and 1993), the synodal declaration of November 1991 regarding inter-communion with the Monophysites, the refusal to proclaim anathemas against all heresies, and the acceptance of the “baptism” of the heterodox in the name of the Holy Trinity) endanger our salvation, as previously stated in Your letter of 6 December 2023.

We share Your sadness and pain as an Orthodox clergyman; we praise your Orthodox confession and pray fervently that the All-Merciful God will strengthen You and the Most Holy Spirit will enlighten You, so that You may “grow in life, faith, and spiritual wisdom,” to struggle as one who loves God and is pleasing to Him in “the good fight of faith, taking hold of eternal life,” “following the Holy Fathers,” and “not moving the eternal boundaries established by the Fathers.”

“Strive for the truth unto death, beloved brother, and the Lord God shall fight for you” (Wisdom of Sirach). Let us also recall the timely words: “Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and unworthy is the one whom He finds negligent.” And another exhortation: “Let us love the Bridegroom, brothers; let us prepare our lamps, shining brightly through virtues and Orthodox Faith.“

“Stand firm as an anvil when it is struck, brother. It is the mark of a great athlete to be struck and yet to conquer.” (Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer, Bishop of Antioch, to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna)

With love and bright Paschal wishes, 

† Seraphim,
Metropolitan of Kythira and Antikythira